Comments on: South by Southwest 2009: Surviving a Week of Geekery http://www.thatcanadiangirl.co.uk/blog/2009/03/21/south-by-southwest-2009-surviving-a-week-of-geekery/ Tech, community & life Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:02:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Ewan Spence http://www.thatcanadiangirl.co.uk/blog/2009/03/21/south-by-southwest-2009-surviving-a-week-of-geekery/#comment-23903 Ewan Spence Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:04:23 +0000 http://www.thatcanadiangirl.co.uk/blog/2009/03/21/south-by-southwest-2009-surviving-a-week-of-geekery/#comment-23903 1. There needs to be more curation on the panels, and less reliance on the panel picker, and haivng people nominate panels 9 months before the conference stops anything innovative, and becomes a confirmational process of the last year. 2. I think the problem was less the conference centre itself but (a) too many panels to get so many names in (who got a free ticket in the lottery, sorry panel picker) and (b) not enough space in the evening parties. 3. Indeed, congrats to the Wifi team - there were some slow points, and the immense speed and capactity when Interactive left and Music arrived was testament to the infrastructure. 1. There needs to be more curation on the panels, and less reliance on the panel picker, and haivng people nominate panels 9 months before the conference stops anything innovative, and becomes a confirmational process of the last year.

2. I think the problem was less the conference centre itself but (a) too many panels to get so many names in (who got a free ticket in the lottery, sorry panel picker) and (b) not enough space in the evening parties.

3. Indeed, congrats to the Wifi team – there were some slow points, and the immense speed and capactity when Interactive left and Music arrived was testament to the infrastructure.

]]> By: Vero http://www.thatcanadiangirl.co.uk/blog/2009/03/21/south-by-southwest-2009-surviving-a-week-of-geekery/#comment-23538 Vero Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:58:06 +0000 http://www.thatcanadiangirl.co.uk/blog/2009/03/21/south-by-southwest-2009-surviving-a-week-of-geekery/#comment-23538 You make a very good point Mike, in that people will often rank themselves wrong. However, I don't think the risk from going into the wrong session are quite as severe as those associated with overestimating your motorbike skills. Generally speaking, you won't lose a limb from going to a session too advanced for you. There would obviously be implementation issues and much talk of elitism, but there's still the shadow of an opportunity in there for the more advanced/experienced folks to find more challenging sessions. You make a very good point Mike, in that people will often rank themselves wrong. However, I don’t think the risk from going into the wrong session are quite as severe as those associated with overestimating your motorbike skills. Generally speaking, you won’t lose a limb from going to a session too advanced for you.

There would obviously be implementation issues and much talk of elitism, but there’s still the shadow of an opportunity in there for the more advanced/experienced folks to find more challenging sessions.

]]> By: mike http://www.thatcanadiangirl.co.uk/blog/2009/03/21/south-by-southwest-2009-surviving-a-week-of-geekery/#comment-23445 mike Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:45:57 +0000 http://www.thatcanadiangirl.co.uk/blog/2009/03/21/south-by-southwest-2009-surviving-a-week-of-geekery/#comment-23445 Regarding the Basic-intermidiate-Advanced thing, it is a fine idea, in theory and has potential to work at an event like SXSW due to the intended audience. However, I am not 100% convinced that there would not be a significant chance of a huge "Twitter Storm". My reasons for thinking that it might not work so well in practice is that people have a tendency to place themselves at the wrong level (either too high or too low). This (placing yourself at the wrong level) is a very common phenomenon at motorcycle track days. During the first session the Basic and Advanced groups are over-full, and then as the day progresses, people gradually change to a more appropriate group. This is because either you scare yourself or other people in that group scare you. Regarding the Basic-intermidiate-Advanced thing, it is a fine idea, in theory and has potential to work at an event like SXSW due to the intended audience.
However, I am not 100% convinced that there would not be a significant chance of a huge “Twitter Storm”.

My reasons for thinking that it might not work so well in practice is that people have a tendency to place themselves at the wrong level (either too high or too low).

This (placing yourself at the wrong level) is a very common phenomenon at motorcycle track days.
During the first session the Basic and Advanced groups are over-full, and then as the day progresses, people gradually change to a more appropriate group.
This is because either you scare yourself or other people in that group scare you.

]]> By: Dave Delaney http://www.thatcanadiangirl.co.uk/blog/2009/03/21/south-by-southwest-2009-surviving-a-week-of-geekery/#comment-23386 Dave Delaney Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:47:46 +0000 http://www.thatcanadiangirl.co.uk/blog/2009/03/21/south-by-southwest-2009-surviving-a-week-of-geekery/#comment-23386 Thanks for the shout out in your post. The panel was a fun one, we even brought cake! ;-) Frat boys, eh? I've been called worse. Ha! Cheers, Dave Thanks for the shout out in your post. The panel was a fun one, we even brought cake! ;-)
Frat boys, eh? I’ve been called worse. Ha!

Cheers,
Dave

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